What is the best mistake you've made so far in your journey as a writer? How has that mistake helped you grow :)?

I think I may have made every single mistake an emerging writer can make. Funny story, Tuesday night I actually received a rejection on a query I sent out two years ago. Yep. Your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. Two years. It was one of the first queries I'd ever sent out and man, it stunk to high heaven! Rotten. Honestly, I'm amazed it even garnered a response.

But if not for making the mistake of writing a truly horrible query, I would have never learned how to write a good one. How do I know? I've received a lot more agent love than I had in the past.

Another newbie mistake I'm glad I made was refusing to network. I dug my heels in and turned my back on the writing community. But when I finally came out of my shell, and overcame my shyness, I realized that a book isn't finished until it's critiqued. A lot. Period.

However, thanks to my mistake, I realized there was no way to navigate these waters on my own. I jumped in head first and made some great friends. Just look at my blog chain peeps. There are some kick ass writers here! ;)

And now, I'm going to break a taboo and share the biggest mistake I'm glad I made. I didn't let "No thanks" be the end of it. I know that we're told not to re-approach an agent after they've given us a rejection. I crossed the line and queried again and it's worked in my favor more than once.

Now don't go crazy... I didn't become an agent stalker. I didn't call their offices begging them to take a second look. I didn't re-query the day after the rejection. I took their words to heart. After all, they'd turned me down for a reason. I revised the manuscript and re-wrote my query and/or synopsis. I made BIG changes. Then, I re-approached the agent in a very professional manner. I've had partials and fulls requested this way. It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears. But it paid off.

Making mistakes is how we learn and grow and I'm grateful for every single one. Check out Kate's post before mine, and Sandra's tomorrow to find out what mistakes they're glad they made!

Wow, these are really good ones! Especially the social networking one. And I think I'll take your advice on requerying agents after they've said no thanks. In a totally professional manner, of course. ;)

About Me

I am the author of the Shaede Assassin urban fantasy romance series published by NAL/Signet Eclipse. I'm represented by Natanya Wheeler of the Nancy Yost Literary Agency. I'm the wife of a fire chief, the mother of a college student and a middle school student, the caretaker of too many pets to list, an avid reader and a music junkie!